Tax Credits, Maternity Leave, Cost of Child Care for No 2

[MTbumpNo2]

Hi
I am very confused. We are allocated £47.00 per month towards child care costs from tax credits due to our salary. I am expecting our second child in July. My little girl is in a private nursery, and I was wondering, do you still get tax credits whilst on maternity leave and should our allowance increase? I am concerned that we may not be able to continue with nursery? Any help would be good, thanks everyone :-)

Whilst you are on OML and providing the childcare was in place before ML then you can carry on claiming.

Tax credits are based on the previous years earnings so will remain the same until April unless you have to make a new claim. You can ask them to re-assess based on this years income but bear in mind that you then lose any disregard and that you have to be spot on with predicted earnings every year otherwise you'll be due an overpayment.

You could reduce the nursery sessions down as you wont need childcare and then increase on your return.

Thanks for your help Happymummyofone, thats great. I think I will have to ask them to re-assess, if I can ever, ever get to speak to anyone! They are a nightmare.
My little girl loves her nursery, and I want to keep things the same as much as possible when baby No 2 comes along. If I degrade her days, i'll not get them back & will struggle to get my next child in as the nursery is an outstanding nursery and there are waiting lists to get in. I just hope we can still afford it though!